Unity for AEC Industry?

So I'm currently doing my masther thesis in architectural engineering at a major architecture buisness in Sweden, and as I'm writing at the Unity forums, it has to do with Game Engines

Anyway, I'm looking into the possibilities of using Game Engines in work, and I see a lot of potential for this! But, I get a lot of questions regarding developing costs and licensing. I can answer most questions related to developing the Virtual Environments as I been experimenting alot with Unity, but I don't know what costs Unity as a software is to a big architectural company?

I see potential in using virtual environments, both as a internal tool to test different ideas and for making decisions, but also as a tool to showcase ideas for clients. So if anyone knows more about this, please leave a comment

/ detnies

 

Plenty of people are doing it.

https://unity3d.com/showcase/gallery/non-games?platform=&genre=939&gametype=t-all

Unity's big strength is real time 3D rendering. That makes it a great tool for showcasing designs, walk throughs and the like.

 

Yes I'm aware of this, but my employeer want's to know how much it would cost for the company to use this technology?

I've read an article saying it was totally free for visualizing purpose, as we aren't really selling the applications, like a game would. (Ue4 is free to use in ArchViz I believe?) But I'm not quite sure this is true for bigger companys?

 

Hi @Detniess
If your company earned $100k (or more) in the last fiscal year (which it most probably does) then you are obligated to buy unity pro regardless of what you are using it for. Plus each person using the engine has to have a license, but I think in practice that isn't what always happens.
Aside from that there are no other costs, other than the salary of the developers that are making your app.

 

Okey, thanks for the info!

 

@Detniess I had to edit my post...

 

So I've read Ue4 is offered completely royalty free for ArchViz... I wish Unity was, I really like Unity

 

You also want to factor in the cost of content creation. Unity primitive won't actually look that good on there own. You'll want software to make models of the various bits and texture them. Along with an artist to run the thing. You can generally do without a programmer for most ArchViz. But you will need a pro lisence.

It appears so. Unreal's model is royalty only. And as long as you don't sell the product, you can use it internally as much as you like for free. From their EULA:

That actually makes for a very interesting loop hole. And is the first thing that I have yet seen in all of the engine war threads that makes me interested in learning the Unreal engine. As written, I can take the engine into my day job and build a training simulation without paying a cent. I can't do that with Unity.

Interesting...

Edit: But if you sell visualizations to another entity, the 5% royalty will very quickly come to cost more then the Unity license.

 

Content creation is no problem, I've learned how to do this on my own. So I'm aware of the resources required

Architects generally have a lot of tools such as 3DS Max, PhotoShop, SketchUp and BIM in their daily work, so I'm trying to use only these kinds of applications to integrate the process in the architects natural workflow!

The royalty system could be a reason for me aswell to consider Ue4, however I prefer Unity 5. With the latest updates Unity isn't as far behind the other engines regarding graphics as some people still claim!